Beautiful One
by Bsktbllgurl
Summary: This story is set slightly in the future. Zim was married and has a daughter. His wife was killed, and the Irkens are in a civil war! And how is Zim's daughter supposed to learn to like humans?! Chapter Four now up
1. Chapter One

Okay, first things first. My version of the Irken language is nothing like any real language. I was watching The Nightmare Begins the other day, (fifth time, I think.) and I listened hard, and I picked up what Dib heard when he overheard the invasion plans. It was, in fact, in another language. I know, and I know at least one word. Empire, from what I remember, sounds somewhat like seli. So that is at least a close version of the Irken word for Empire. And yes, I know that this is just a little used. But I am sincerely hoping that it's not too bad.

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Invader Zim. However, I do own Malleh. Who's Malleh? You'll see…

**Beautiful One**

It was a nice spring evening, at about 9:00. Most people were inside, including the ones in the one strange house that everyone when they first saw it was more than a little shocked. It was wedged between two large buildings, and had this almost bizarre look to it.

This house was considerably larger than it had been a few years ago. Inside the house, if you had been in there a few years ago, you would find that much was changed. The rather scary picture that had once hung over the couch was gone, replaced by something like a family portrait, with three people in it, who were obviously father, mother, and child.

The toilet was no longer in the kitchen, like it had initially been. And, when looking up, unless you focused really hard, you didn't see the once familiar tubes that helped mark this house. Instead, you thought you saw a pale painted ceiling.

The house wasn't the only thing that was different. The inhabitants of the house were too. Correct, inhabitants. Instead of just one resident, there were no9w two. However, up until a year ago, there had been three.

Now the younger of the two was down in her father's lab. Yes, lab. For this was Zim's house. The young girl was sitting in front of a computer, reading something in a strange and foreign text. At first glance, she was like any other girl.

She wore a black pair of overall shorts, a magnate shirt, black tights, knee high boots, and black gloves. Also, she wore a backpack. It was a little unusual looking, being magenta with black spots on it. She had long black hair, which hung down her back in waves. But when you looked closer, you noticed that she wasn't like any other girl.

Her skin was strangely off color, like a very pale color, with a tinge of pastel green. But that wasn't what you noticed the most. She had two antennae on the top of her head, that were slightly curled under. And, she had big, red eyes with long black lashes.

This was Malleh, daughter of Invader Zim. She was smiling at what she was reading, and occasionally laughing. However, every now and then she'd look around cautiously. She couldn't get caught. She would be in big trouble if she did. Because what she was reading, was her father's old journal.

He had kept one for many months after he first landed on earth and had been introduced to them. Many of the things he had written amused Malleh. She knew for sure that her father had been rather… idiotic when he was first on earth. The particular entry that she was reading was extremely interesting. Translated from Irken, it read as follows:

_This, this horrible planet with it's filthy stink beasts! I can hardly take it any more! That Dib, how nasty is that, ugh.. Human? Wherever I go lately, he has a water gun with him. At least he's given up on that 'water balloon' idea of his. The filthy stink beast Dib will never raise a 'water balloon' to me again! I have yet to defeat this planet, but of course, it is only a matter of time! The great Invader Zim will triumph!!!_

"Ahem." Malleh heard the soft noise that came from behind her, and she turned around, to see her father standing there. He took one look at the screen, and his face took on a fearsome look. Before he could say anything, however, Malleh broke in.

The following speech is in Irken. It has a translated version right after it.

"Eh… Reko… Mae lana ze ko ter vako…" _"Eh… Dad… This isn't what it looks like…" _Zim's expression didn't change.

"Kae wre ko de?" _"Then what is it?" _There was no mistaking the tone of Zim's voice. Malleh was in trouble. As she usually did when frantic, her speech changed to English.

"Dad! I'm sorry! Really, I am! Please don't make me go to the human's school! Please!" Zim sighed, and lapsed into English too.

"All right, I'll let you off the hook this time. But next time I catch you in my personal log…"

"Uh, Dad, a personal log is where you record your duties. That's a journal."

"Don't correct me! I know more than you!"

"Uh-huh…" Malleh's sarcasm was obvious. This sent Zim's temper spilling into full fury.

"That's it Malleh. When the human school starts next week, you're going!"

"But, Dad!"

"Malleh, the answer is final. Next Monday, you are going to 'skool'."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Malleh stepped out of the garbage can, one of the few things that hadn't changed in this odd house, and walked into the living room. Sitting on the couch and watching TV was G.I.R., Zim's old robot. For the longest time Zim had tried using G.I.R., but eventually he had figured out that the robot simply wasn't smart.

After many attempts to make him smart, Zim had given up. He had almost decided to scrap G.I.R., but realized that he cared too much about the little robot, and so had kept him as a pet. And it was a good thing he did, too, for the little robot had turned out to be helpful in other ways than intelligence, especially for Malleh.

The little S.I.R. almost always listened to Malleh, even when he didn't understand, which was usually. But he could tell when Malleh was sad, or upset. So it was no surprise that when Malleh stormed out of the lab, she headed straight for G.I.R. She turned off the TV so G.I.R. would pay somewhat more attention. The little S.I.R. looked at her.

"Aw, Malleh's mad. Why are you mad? Will a cupcake make you feel better? Cupcakes make me feel better. I love cupcakes! They're so they're so chocolaty and cakey, and they fit right in my head!" Instead of handing Malleh the aforementioned cupcake, G.I.R. ate it. G.I.R. then looked a little sad, then cheered up as he pulled another out of his head.

Malleh had noticed this, and it cheered her up somewhat. 

"G.I.R., you're getting a little off subject…"

"I am? What's a subject? Is it like tuna? I like tuna! Tuunaa…" Malleh sighed. G.I.R. would never change. Though she knew he wouldn't really pay attention, she poured out her anger to him, anyway.

"G.I.R., it's not fair! Dad's sending me to school with the humans, and even he knows that the only good human was mom!" G.I.R. looked sad at what Malleh had said.

"Mistress doesn't come play with me any more… Doesn't she like me?" He had never really understood that Gaz had died. Zim had thought it best to not explain it to him. He just told him that she wouldn't be able to play with him any more.

Malleh sighed, knowing the little S.I.R. didn't understand. She went down to her room to pout.

~*~*End*~*~

I know, not a very good start, is it. And I know I'm going to get a lot of complaints about Gaz being dead… But I couldn't see how to work her into the story. I'll give you an explanation to what Malleh's name means. Or, okay, it's only a hint. The title of my story is what her name means.

This is going to turn out to be quite an adventure for Malleh, but I won't give it away. But I will give you a hint: Not all of it's on earth. Okay, I know I'm boring you, so, bye! Review please! Even flames are okay, because I know I'll probably get a lot more of them than anything else… Unless there are nice people out there :::hint hint:::..


	2. Chapter Two

I hope this is satisfactory… I am trying to make this good…

I hope this is okay. I am trying to make this good, despite what you may think. I've included a short explanation of how Gaz died in this chapter. If you want a longer version, like in a separate story, let me know in your reviews, if I get any. Ha.

By the way, the stories Malleh reads are not real, as far as I know. She and I have almost completely different tastes. And I know Zim is more than likely a lot out of character, but don't you think time could have definitely changed him?

One more thing before I've bored you to death: I'm homeschooled and always have been, so, if my interpretation of school, or 'skool', I guess I should say, is really off, I apologize. Don't fail to let me know and tell me what I have wrong, and what it's supposed to be like. It would be most helpful.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Invader Zim, but Malleh's mine. And so is Cara. If anyone else has characters with these, names, sorry. It's not my problem, because I didn't know.

**Beautiful One**

Chapter Two

Malleh was miffed. Tomorrow she would have to go to the human's 'skool', unless she could talk her dad out of it. And it didn't seem like she'd be able to. She had been trying all week with not even partial success. 

If her mom were still alive, there wouldn't be a problem. Her mom had always been able to talk her dad out of punishing her too severely. The most severe punishment she had gotten before this was no going to any parts of the lab except her room for a week, and that was when she had 'accidentally' contacted the AMT and told them a lot of the things her father had been doing.

Red and Purple had laughed that up for weeks, particularly the time when Zim had gotten stuck in a landfill surrounded by water after a rain. He had been looking for G.I.R. at the time. It had taken him forever to get over that one. If Gaz hadn't have shown up when she did, Zim might have been buried under a pile of garbage. Even then it had taken several weeks for Zim to lose the smell of that landfill…

Malleh laughed about that as she remembered. It was one of the funnier memories she had. But the laughter soon ended, and she started up on a tirade of angry thoughts and ideas. She soon realized that she wasn't thinking strait when she formed a plan of giving her father a shrinking drug and force him to go to school with her. 

She shook her head clear, and then picked up a book she had been reading. Yes, it was indeed a human one. Despite how nasty most humans were to her, she still liked their books. Especially their sci-fi books. It was fun to laugh at their usually pathetic ideas of other life forms. She was in an especially funny part of what was supposed to be a scary sci-fi book, when she heard the noise of the tube that led into her room opening.

"Vi doha gi, li." _"Knock next time, please."_

"Ye tli, na so ket? Ge hari, Malleh." _"Where at, may I ask? Be serious, Malleh."_

Malleh sighed, and spoke in English, as she wanted to get this over fast, and English was a simpler language.

"All right Dad, what is it you want?" Zim disliked her abrupt switching of languages, but he didn't voice his opinion about that.

"Don't take that tone with me, Malleh. And you know what I want. I want to talk to you. I wanted to apologize to you for shouting at you earlier. Maybe I was a little harsh on you, but you know by now how my temper is." Malleh grinned.

"It's okay Dad, I know you didn't mean it. And I didn't really mean to sound that way to you." She pulled her father into a hug. Malleh pulled away after a minute.

"So… Does this mean I don't have to go to that 'skool' thing tomorrow?"

"Nope, sorry, you still have to go."

"But _why_, dad? You know it'll be way too easy." Zim held back a grin at that.

"Maybe, but I think you need to get used to the humans. You are half-human, you know. It would be insulting your mother to avoid them completely." His tone turned darker. "It not like you're going to get to know the Irken race." Malleh nodded. She couldn't help but see his point.

"All right. But one thing."

"And what's that?"

"Should I change my disguise? I mean, the skin condition thing may have worked with you, but…" Zim grinned, and it was far unlike the rather nasty smiles he used to have.

"I understand. Come on, let's go fix it."

~*~*~*~*~*~

__

Monday morning

Malleh took a deep breath and walked into the classroom. She knew what her father's teacher had been like. He had somehow seemed stuck with her, winding up with her every year of 'skool'. Luckily, her teacher wasn't Ms. Bitters. Oh, Ms. Bitters still taught, but she had been transferred to another school, to scare to minds out of some other kids for a while.

Malleh was in before anyone else, but she waited to take a seat. She didn't know who would sit where. She hoped her disguise worked. It was simple enough. She had makeup on her face and neck to hide the green tinge of her skin, contacts, and she had her hair along with her antennae pulled into a ponytail. It hurt for a little while every time she forced her antennae down, but she had learned to ignore it. 

Oh, did I mention the addition of fake ears and a fake nose? A much better disguise than her father's had been. After everyone else had sat down, she took the remaining seat, which was near another girl. She wore glasses over amber eyes, and had light brown hair that was cut to her chin.

She wore a purple shirt with writing on it that stated as follows: ALIENS EXIST, AND I HAVE FOUND ONE! And on the back: REALLY! She wore gray-blue jeans that were just a little long and hung over her shoes. 

She noticed Malleh reading her shirt and laughed.

"My dad made me wear it. I'm called Cara."

"Called?"

"Yeah, my real name's Caroline, but I always liked Sarah better, so I compromised and go by Cara. My mom doesn't mind, so much as I let her call me by my real name. Your name?"

"Malleh."

"Malleh? What kind of a name is that? Oh, wait, I shouldn't talk. It's a foreign name, isn't it? I never was very good at any other languages. I'm taking French at home. My dad thinks I should learn all the languages on the planet so I can 'tell when someone's not from this planet.' I think he's crazy. All P.I.s are."

"P.I.s?"

"Yeah. Paranormal Investigator. Mouthful, isn't it? Any way, he's making me take French and about the only word I can get in French is the word yes, and even that I have trouble saying! Uh-oh, teachers coming. You'd better be quiet. She's supposed to be a scary one."

Malleh was about to whisper that she wasn't the one who needed to be quiet, she had barely been able to get a word in edgewise, but Cara hushed her. Everyone sat in silent fear except for Malleh and Cara, and they just sat silently.

Then the teacher walked in, and she surprised nearly everyone. 

"Hello there! I'm Ms. Sunni. As you can tell, I'm your teacher. And I want to get to know each and every one of you personally!" 

"Okay, now I'm scared." Malleh whispered to Cara, who she, despite her rather disgust of humans, already thought of as a friend. Cara giggled. Ms. Sunni looked over at Cara.

"Did you say something, miss…?" Cara couldn't help the smile on her face.

"No, Ma'am."

"I think I heard you laughing. Would you care to tell the class what you were laughing about?"

"No Ma'am."

"All right then, you can be the first to introduce yourself! And since it seems that your friend over there had a hand in this too," She waved her hand at Malleh. "She can go next." Cara sighed.

"The name's Caroline Membrane. Call me anything but Cara and your dead." Her face turned stormy then turned back to normal. "Otherwise, I'll talk to ya." Ms. Sunni gave a half smile. 

"Thank you, Caroli-" 

"Cara."

"Ahem. Thank you Cara. That was quite an… Interesting introduction. Next!" Malleh spoke up.

"Malleh Redavni. Spare yourself the trouble of calling my name. I won't answer." Malleh then fell silent and deep into thought. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all. She was startled to find a piece of folded up paper on her desk. She unfolded it and read:

__

Do you want to come over to my house after school? You could meet my mom. Dad will probably still be at work. He's always working. Don't answer out loud. Write your answer and send this back. -Cara

Malleh considered this. Her Dad might not like it; he never liked it when he didn't know where she was. But she could always contact him with her backpack from Cara's house. And this might be a good opportunity to learn about her human side. She grinned, wrote an answer, and tossed it back to Cara.

__

Yes, I'll come. I don't think my dad will mind. -Malleh When Cara read the note she grinned too. Malleh then noticed that all the kids had finished their introductions. Ms. Sunni began speaking.

"Okay class, I just would like you to know that every school night this month I'll be coming to one of your houses to get to know your parents." One kid raised his hand.

"Ms. Sunni, isn't that what Parent Teacher Night is for?" Ms Sunni smiled. Apparently she smiled a lot.

"You're right, Dylan. That is what Parent Teacher night is for. However, I'd like to get to know your parents, not just meet them. If I get to know your parents, then I might be able to work with you all better." Another kid raised their hand.

"Ms. Sunni, who's first? And when are we starting?" Ms. Sunni smiled even wider. Malleh thought her face was going to break if her grin got any bigger. She'd like to watch that.

"Well, Jinni, I think it would be best to start with whoever would find it the most convenient. I'll tell you what. How about we draw names out of a hat? You would like that, wouldn't you?" Her grin did get bigger, but to Malleh's surprise, her face didn't break. It stretched a little bit, but it didn't break. 

"Drawing names out of a hat? What are we, kindergartners?" Malleh shrugged.

"How should I know? Do you think her face is going to break?"

"I don't know, but it would be pretty cool, wouldn't it? My little brother smiled that big once, and I managed to convince him that his face would stick like that if he smiled ever again, and he didn't smile for a whole week! Of course, I got in trouble for that, but it was so cool!" 

Ms. Sunni was in the process of handing little strips of paper to every kid. She handed one to Malleh. Malleh looked at it, and then back at the teacher.

"What do I do with this?"

"You write your name on it! You know how to spell your name, correct, Malleh? Or would you like me to help you?" Malleh was about to gag at this lady. She was scary, after all. Instead, she grinned sweetly.

"Oh, I think I can handle it, Ms. Sunni. I'm a big girl, after all." Almost everyone in class was trying to hold back their laughter now. Ms. Sunni didn't notice.

"I'm sure you are. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to hand these out to the rest of the class." Malleh quickly scrawled her name, and then whispered to Cara.

"Now that's what I call scary." Cara grinned and nodded. After everyone had written their names, a hat was passed around and they dropped the paper in. When the last kid had dropped in his name, Ms. Sunni took the hat. 

"Okay, the first child's house I come visit is… Deanna Girlie's! I'll see you at your parent's house tonight, Deanna. Okay, tomorrow night's visit, I'll go to… Cara Membrane's! I'll draw the next three nights, and then we can get on with class. Here's Wednesday's lucky hostess… Malleh Redavni!" 

Malleh groaned a little bit. How in the world was she going to convince this human not to come to her house? She didn't even notice who the other two unlucky ones were. Ms. Sunni's smile disappeared for a moment, as if she had to rest her mouth, then she broke into a grin again.

"Well, it looks like we're out of time for this class. We'll get some real work done tomorrow, won't we children? I'll look forward to meeting your mommies and daddies. They all must be wonderful to have such nice little children as you!" Malleh gagged. Then, as if she just remembered it, she walked up to Ms. Sunni as the bell rang.

"Ms. Sunni, I don't have a mom." Ms. Sunni 's smile lessened.

"Aww, I'm sorry. What happened?"

"She died a few years ago."

"I am sorry Malleh. It must be hard for you." This hit Malleh's pride. She stiffened.

"No it's not." And she walked out the classroom door. As she walked towards the general direction of the cafeteria, she thought about how her mom had died. How the Almighty Tallest (s?) wanted Zim to come back to Irk because of a rebellion that had broken out, and how Zim had refused, as he didn't want to go back until he had conquered earth.

Less than three weeks later, a mysterious Irken arrived on Earth. Malleh had caught him reporting to the AMT that the real reason that Zim didn't want to was because he actually had a 'family unit', as how the Irken reported it, and was secretly a member of the rebellion. This, of course, wasn't true, but the Irken hated Zim, as he had been one of the ones who were under his command during Impending Doom One.

This turned the Tallests even more against Zim, and ordered the Irken to kill him. But Malleh had heard, and the Irken went after her. She had run to her mother for protection, because her father wasn't home at the time.

The Irken had shot her, and was about to shoot Malleh, too, when her father came home. He didn't hurt the Irken that had done it _too _badly, and forced him back to Irk, where he'd never have any missions again. Needless to say, Zim stopped all contact with the AMT, and in fact, had joined the rebellion.

He was now a crucial figure in it, sending supplies from Earth to the Irken Rebel's space station. Malleh shook her head to clear it of that awful time, and walked into the cafeteria, wondering what he would do. She saw Cara sitting at a table with some other humans, and was waved over. She nodded and walked over. She had taken notice of the food as she walked in, and had decided not to eat lunch. It was safer not to.

She tried to still her heart (Or would that be something else? You never know), took a deep breath, and sat down.

~*~End~*~

I know, the end of that chapter could have been better, but I couldn't think of how else to end it. I hope that explanation is satisfactory. So it wasn't exactly _short_, but it could have been longer. This chapter is quite a bit longer than the last one. And just so you know, Cara and Malleh are cousins. They just don't know it.

I hope this is better than the last chapter. Anyway, tell me if you liked this. Tell me if you didn't. Just tell me something, please! Chapter three's coming soon! Ms. Sunni's scary in her own way, isn't she? Hmm… would you rather I had put someone more like Ms. Bitters in this? I'm trying to be different.

Don't worry, Malleh will have a rival, but she's not human… Okay, I know the way I worked in the explanation is a little shabby, but there was no other way that I could find to work it in without putting it in the next chapter, and I didn't want to keep anyone waiting too long. So, what about reviewing? Please?

Oh, and one last thing. Cara is pronounced like Sarah, just so you know. I'll leave you all to live your normal lives now. 


	3. Chapter Three

Okay, I am really hoping that this chapter is okay, I've had a little bits of writer's block every now and then these past few days

Okay, I am really hoping that this chapter is okay, I've had a little bits of writer's block every now and then these past few days. I think I ended the last chapter a little shabbily, and I'll try to make up for it with a better ending for this one.

But who knows, it may be worse. You'll finally get to see what Zim does all day in this one, as well as what Red and purple have been doing all this time… Oh, and I forgot. The Rebel Irkens technically have another name. Renegade Irkens is their real term. Can you tell that I've had this idea for a while? Oh well. Please review!

(Oh, there is also a lot more talk in Irken in this chapter. In some chapters I might have just Irken, so it will be translated. But with the way I'm going to try to work the plot, I don't much think that that is going to happen. (^_^)) 

And I do love what few reviews I get. I don't usually get much time to write, so this story may come along slowly. Not to mention I have to transfer my stories through disk. I don't have the Internet on the computer I write on. I'll leave you alone now so you can read.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters from Invader Zim, but I do own Malleh, Cara, and the newest additions to my main cast, Madiko and Kimara!

**Beautiful One**

Chapter Three

Malleh was shocked at herself. She was actually going to sit with a bunch of strangers, except for one, and she barely knew her, and on top of that, they were humans! Cara laughed at Malleh's obvious nervousness, and introduced her to every one else at the table.

"Okay, Malleh, I'd like you to meet Steph, Adria, Emi, and Gea." Then, in an imitation of Ms. Sunni, which was pretty good considering that she had only seen her once. "Say hello to Malleh, everybody! We want her to feel welcome with us, don't we?" Malleh almost laughed, then remembered her nervousness. In spite of that, however, she ended up relaxing and actually, dare I say it, having fun.

"Hey Malleh, cool backpack. Where'd you get it? I haven't seen anything like it in the stores." A girl who had red hair and blue eyes said. Malleh was sure that this was Adria. Malleh quickly thought of an answer.

"Internet. There's a whole site dedicated to nothing else but backpacks. This one was the coolest." Malleh wasn't lying, actually. She was stretching the truth. There was a planet, somewhat like Callnowa (Where Zim got his Germ Goggles from) that belonged to the Renegades and it specialized in Irken packs with special upgrades. Malleh had gotten her pack from there two years ago.

A different girl spoke up. She had blond hair that reached her waist, and she had a white hair band in. She had green eyes, and she wore a long-sleeved shirt that was a deep blue in color, white pants, and platform shoes.

"So, you say that this is your first year of public school? Well, trust me, you don't want to get off on the wrong foot here. See that girl over there? With the green skin, and blue hair? You'd better watch out for her. She's the toughest girl in school. You say one thing out of line in front of her, or especially, insult her, you're in BIIIG trouble!" Malleh looked at the girl. And she did a double take. That girl was obviously Irken. And she seemed to be paying special attention to Malleh.

Malleh would have to tell this to her father.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Speaking of Zim, he was down in his lab, talking to the leaders of the Renegades. They preferred to be called by their names, Ranah and Ored. Let us take a minute from the story (how sad.), and explain something about the Renegades.

The Renegades are, of course, disloyal to the Tallests. They believe that the Government that was abolished when the Tallest form came into power should be restored. They believe that the Tallest Monarchy is an unfair power, as Irkens a very rarely past the 5'5" in height, and such height as the current Tallests have, at 6'"7, is an definite unfair advantage, keeping them as the rulers for a very long time.

The Renegades think of the Tallests Red and Purple as tyrants, egomaniacs, and power obsessed. Which, of course, is the truth. The Renegades also don't approve of the various operations the Tallest are in charge of. They don't believe that you should conquer the universe, at least not all at once. The Renegades prefer to destroy those that are more hostile than them, and the planets that are of no use, they'd leave alone. 

They do not approve of the way the Tallests create their armies. The Renegades are the few Irkens that believe in the family unit, and not creating new soldiers genetically. The Renegades are not all soldiers. Many of them are merely suppliers, ones that help out. Zim is one of these. He would take an active part, but for Malleh. He doesn't want her to lose him, too. He cares too deeply for her. Besides, the Renegades needed him right where he was.

Anyway, getting back to the story…(Sorry that took so long, but I think I needed the space, and it did, despite what you think, needed to be there. I do know about what's going to happen! Mostly.)

Zim saluted, a habit that he had not abolished, since these were the leaders, after all. Zim had had to raise the screen up several feet. He had grown a very large amount taller than he had been. He was now very tall. Very tall. His new leaders knew this, and Zim was fairly high ranked. However, it was not because of height. Ranah was only 5'0, and she was a leader. Anyway…

"Keno sei, Zim. Ape la et me kaso, ki na me do?" _"Good work, Zim. We trust that you and your daughter are well?"_

"Meko sa, Ranah. Malleh vi to ka. Hi go ti no ha? Loi seno?" _"We're fine, Ranah. Malleh is having a very busy time as of late. What is it you need? More supplies?" _Ranah smiled briefly. She was the only one transmitting this message, as Ored was busy in another section of the space station.

"Wo, Zim. Mek se thino. Mek fe li gohi fo Seli tac en Earth. Een lot fo la seko ni har def. Mek re ned ke rik ot ine hev seko. Eh ne teeni Madiko." _"No, Zim. We need nothing. We have heard reports of Empire activity on Earth. Our analysts say there's a spy in your area. We are sending you help to find the spy. He is called Madiko."_

"Madiko? Ke ne ther ihe?" _"Madiko? Do I know him?"_

"Se, Zim. Ih de lie 26 nems." _"No, Zim. He is only 26 nems."_

"26? Het li ceron n daon!" _"26? That is merely a child!" _Ranah smiled.

"Ih li derqo zineh, Zim. Ni,, tue A lecin, ju ren kiin 20 nems heen ju rend ni Earth." _"He is very intelligent, Zim. And, If I recall, you were only 20_ _nems when you went to Earth." _Zim was quieted at that for a few seconds.

"Nihe leat. Malleh hlun se tinoin kas nio, ias-" _"Very well. Malleh should be reporting back soon, so-"_ Ranah outright laughed.

"Tinoin kas? Ihis ni har gidaon! Hio re rino werin, Zim. Im rito ni lato kic wi, to hio re simed. Siqen tle. "_Reporting back? She is your daughter! You are very funny, Zim. My brother is coming back now, so you are dismissed. Signing out." _Zim looked away from the now dark contact screen, and noticed the time. Malleh should be coming back soon. He wondered if Malleh might have noticed the spy… 

However, his thoughts were interrupted by G.I.R. running into the lab, looking frantically around for something. Zim sighed. He knew what was happening. G.I.R. stopped short in front of him, and swiveled his head around.

"Where's mistress? Can she play now? I got a fish!" Zim's nonexistent eyebrows went up. That S.I.R. never ceased to surprise him with his stupidity.

"A… Fish?" 

"Yeah, wanna see?" Zim decided to indulge the robot for once, knowing that Malleh would be back soon, and he didn't need to worry. About that, anyway. He had a new worry immediately in his mind, as G.I.R. pulled out of his head, a goldfish, in a plastic bag, full of… water. G.I.R. pulled the dripping fish out, and advanced towards Zim with it. Zim ran.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Malleh sighed, glad that the school day was finally over. Ms. Sunni had to be worse than what Ms. Bitters must have been. But as she thought that, she remembered that she was supposed to go over to Cara's house now. With her father, he'd probably be frantic by the time she got to Cara's house. No matter, she'd contact him from there.

She stepped outside the 'skool' building, and waited for the crowd to thin a little before she moved. As the crowd was going by, the girl who had been pointed out, tapped her on the shoulder. She gave Malleh an extremely angry look. Her words were quiet, very quiet. It was almost a whisper, and if Malleh hadn't been half Irken, she wouldn't have been able to hear it at all.

"I'm on to you, _Malleh_." Before Malleh could react, the girl was gone. And before she could process the information, Cara was beside her.

"Okay, are you ready? My house isn't that far away, about three blocks. We can walk there pretty fast, and beat my mom home if we try. You did get you're dad's okay on it, right? Well, I'm sure you did. What are you standing there for? We have to hurry! If I don't get home in… eep, five minutes, my cat is liable to scratch my eyes out!" 

She took off. Malleh said nothing, and followed. She was still trying to process that girl. She had seen her somewhere before…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Madiko sighed. It was boring on his ship. Nothing to do until he got to Earth. A whole three days more of traveling through deep space, with nothing other to do than to play games of Irken solitaire over and over again. He looked over again at his Standard Assistance Unit, or S.A.U. It was a parallel of the S.I.R., but with much more advanced tactics, designed by his leaders to help him scope out and stop the spy. Three more days until the action would start.

Three more days…

~*~End~*~

Okay, that should be good enough. A little short, but I'm making up for it, I promise. I'll try to find more time to write, so don't worry, any of you who actually read this. The next chapter should be out in less than a month, at least. ^_*. So the new characters don't have much yet, but they will soon. I promise, Malleh and Cara will find out next chapter. Boy, I hope Zim gets away from G.I.R.'s fish. He hasn't bathed in paste recently. I'll leave you alone to your normal lives now.


	4. Chapter Four

Wow, I'm finally getting somewhere in this story

Wow, I'm finally getting somewhere in this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters of Invader Zim, however, I do own all other characters. 

**Beautiful One**

Chapter Four

~*~*~*~*~*~

Malleh was a little, well, actually, quite a bit shocked at Cara's house. It was HUGE house, more like a mansion. She followed at a walk, as Cara raced up the steps and unlocked the door, running in, succeeding in tripping over a cat that was practically jumping up her pants leg, and fell down. Malleh would have laughed if Cara hadn't looked so disgruntled. The cat, seeing an opportunity, jumped on Cara's back and started walking up and down her spine. Cara pushed the cat off of her.

"Cut it OUT Zap!" The cat simply purred. Just then, the noise of a car pulling up drowned out Cara's rants about cats and their insatiable appetites as she got up and filled the cat's food dish. The sound of two car doors slamming broke Malleh out of her trance-like state, and she started laughing uncontrollably.

A small boy with black hair and green eyes, with hair that stuck up in an all too much familiar way ran in, followed by a full grown woman, who had blond hair and green eyes.

"Cara! What is going on in here? Has that cat been giving you trouble again? Please keep the explanation short this time and- Oh, who's your friend?" Cara brushed some hair out of her face.

"Okay, mom, first of all, it was Zap's fault. That cat has the largest appetite I've ever seen! And this is-" 

"Malleh Redavni." Malleh said, finishing the sentence for Cara. Mrs. Membrane's face turned quizzical.

"Redavni, hmm? Where have I heard that name before?" Malleh shrugged.

" I have no idea, ma'am."

"Well, I'm sure I'll think of it soon. Now, Cara, why don't you and Malleh go up to your room?" She said, walking out of the room. Malleh followed Cara up the stairs that were to the right of the room. Cara's brother followed. Malleh suddenly remembered her father, how she hadn't confirmed this with him yet. She decided she needed to contact him. She was suddenly aware of the boy, giving her an intense scrutiny.

"Cara, I don't trust this girl. She acts kinda weird to me." Cara's face turned stormy.

"Weird? You think _she's_ weird? Take a look in the mirror, _Junior!_" 

"I hate that name."

"Go play in your room with your toy aliens, junior." 'Junior' stalked off to his room, grumbling. Malleh whispered a question into Cara's ear. Cara nodded and pointed down the hall across the edge of the stairs, to an inconspicuous door. Malleh quickly nodded and went in, and shut the door. 

Suprisingly, (Or not) she was in the bathroom. Looking around, she pushed a spot on her pack that brought out the communicator. It dangled in front of her face, as she pulled hair down to stretch the kinks out of her antennae for a few minutes.

Right away, her dad's face came on the screen, and he wasn't happy. 

"Malleh!" He barked into the communicator. "Seh ni ju?!" "W_here are you?"_ Malleh sighed. This would take some explaining…

~*~*~*~*~*~

A small boy stood at the door, listening. _'Wow! Is dad gonna want to hear this or what!'_

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Neh hi?! Lino JIN?!" _"You're where?! With WHO?!" _Zim shouted at his daughter through the communicator. How could she have done this to him? Gone somewhere with a human, and without telling him?! 

Sure, he had wanted her to learn a little more about them, but _associate_ with them? This was too much. And who had she said she was with?! Zim was literally pacing around the lab, muttering unintelligible under his breath.

G.I.R. bounced into the lab, with a brainfreezy in hand. He slurped it, and looked around. He saw Malleh's face upon the view screen, and Zim storming around the lab, very angry. Oblivious to this G.I.R. smiled, his face literally covered with brainfreezy. This one was cheese flavored. He freed one gooey hand and waved.

"Hi!" Malleh, despite her father's rant, grinned. She spoke in English, as that was the best language to use with G.I.R. Using another would overload whatever properly working circuits he had. 

"Hi G.I.R." G.I.R. smiled wider, and Zim came out of his tirade, trying to calm himself down a little. He also spoke English, just because it was the first thing that came out of his mouth. (A/N: Or maybe because the author is tired of translating!)

"Okay, Malleh. Explain. Now." Malleh sighed. She was getting off easy.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Junior was still outside the door, only now he had a tape recorder. He was listening closely to what was said, and so he didn't hear the footsteps approaching. It was Cara.

"Just what do you think you're doing, squirt?" She asked, her tone sounding very dark and menacing. Junior looked up at his older sister, and grinned nastily. 

"Your friend's an alien! Listen!" He quickly played back his tape recorder. Cara didn't bat an eye.

"She is NOT an alien, squirt. She's from another country. Can't you tell? That sounds like Chinese or something."

"Her last name's _Redavni_. That is in no way Chinese. Does she look Chinese to you?" Cara sighed.

"Look, all I know is she's my new friend, and I _want_ to make a good impression on her! Now, _go_ away!"

"Why should I?" Junior said defiantly. Cara grinned evilly.

"If you don't, I'll tell mom about the time you snuck out to see that sci-fi movie mom didn't think you were old enough for, and the time you claimed that you saw a baby bigfoot in your bedroom, playing a guitar!"

"HEY! It wasn't a guitar! It was playing with my ultimate telescope! And Dad believes me!"

"That's just 'cause he thinks Bigfoot was in his garage when he was 12."

"He was! Dad wouldn't lie!" Cara sighed. 

"You don't get it, do you. Dad's crazy. Wacko. That's how come we never see him. He's in a crazy bucket half of the time." 

"Do you really think that about me?" Said a quiet voice. Cara froze. It was her dad.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Malleh heard the commotion outside, but she was busy explaining to her dad. His face, through the small screen, was unreadable.

"What did you say your friend's name was, again?" He asked. Malleh thought this was a weird question for her dad to ask, but, he was kind of weird anyway.

"Her name's Cara, why?" Zim looked slightly annoyed now.

"Not her name. Her family unit name."

"Oh, her last name? I think she said it was… Membrane. Why?" She asked; her eyes large and confused. Zim looked back at her seriously.

"Malleh. Do you remember your mother's original family unit name?" Malleh shook her head no. Zim sighed.

"You remember the story of how I met your mother when I first came here, don't you?" Malleh nodded.

"Ino." _"Yes." _

"Well, do you remember that her brother was my greatest rival?"

"Yeah."

"And remember how I told you that right after your mother and I got married, he got a job in a far away human Noihe(_City_)?" Malleh nodded.

"His job, was as a.. I believe it's called a… Paranormal Investigator? Well, anyway, your mother lost contact with him. He didn't know about you birth, or anything after he left. Malleh? Malleh, are you listening? Malleh!" Malleh's mind was elsewhere, thinking back to Cara's earlier words…

__

"…I think he's crazy. All P.I.s are. …Paranormal Investigators." Malleh suddenly felt weak.

"Dad? Is. Cara my cousin." Zim looked back at her.

"Yes. Don't leave from where you are. I'll locate you on the computer, and I'll be over there to straiten things out in a few minutes. And remember. Do not, under any circumstances, leave the room you are in. Do you understand?" His face was stern. Malleh knew that no was not an option.

"Yes sir." Zim's picture faded out, and as the communicator folded back into her pack, she sat down, trying to sort things out.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Zim couldn't have been more shocked. Malleh, on the first day of 'skool', had made a friend, who was actually the daughter of his wife's brother, whom he hadn't seen in thirteen nems! 

"Years." He corrected himself, and he grabbed his old wig from the place where it had sat, almost unused, for more than thirteen years. Placing his old contacts in, and the wig on his head, he stepped out of his lab, and walked out the door, using a handheld minicomputer that easily located Malleh. Suprisingly, it wasn't that far away, he'd get there in about five minutes. How could they have been this close and he ad never even noticed?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Red and Purple were relaxing. Despite the war that was currently going on, they were very happy. They were quite sure that Kimara would do her job, and succeed in her spy mission on Earth, as well as take care of Zim.

After all, what more could you expect of a trained Irken spy?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Cara looked up. Her emotion switch quickly turned to regret, and her eyes filled with tears.

"Dad…" Dib(In case you still hadn't figured it out.), looked at his daughter. He was clearly hurt. 

"Answer me Cara. Is that really what you think?" Cara looked up, a somewhat desperate look in her eyes.

"Well, what am I supposed to think? You're always gone, doing who knows what. For all I know, you could be being chased by natives from Singapore, or something!" Junior grinned.

"Now that's crazy!" His mother, who had just walked in on the scene, shot him a look.

"Come on, Dibby. I think you and I have something we have to do in the kitchen."

"What? Cara already fed Zap, and I don't have any homework." His mother shot him another glare, and dragged him down the stairs. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

Zim walked up to the door of the house. He wondered briefly how he would handle this. Should he, for old time's sake, sneak in and jump Dib? Nah, that was ridiculous. Besides, it was usually Dib who had done that. Zim would never live it down if he were to act like Dib. He did the only other thing he could do. He knocked on the door.

~*End*~

I know, it's a little cut off, but I don't have too much time to write any more. I think this one may be a little shakier in some aspects, but I don't think it's too bad. And, I know, Dib is a little bit out of character, I think. But hey, time does tend to change people a little. And Red and Purple didn't g4et any dialog at all! Oh well. Next time. The next chapter should be out sometime relatively soon. Oh, and Chapter one of Going Home is definitely going to come out soon. I think I've babbled on enough. Review please! Thank you, and goodbye.


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